


Force (Be With Us)

by Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa)



Series: Eirlyssa's 2019 Bingo Fills [7]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019, Everyone Needs A Hug, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Pre-Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark, Protectiveness, Team as Family, Tony Stark Bingo 2019, WinterIron Bingo 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-21 16:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18705931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eirlyssa/pseuds/Iron_Eirlyssa
Summary: When Padawan Steev loses his Master to what seems like an accident, he and his friends gather... and find out there is a lot more going on than they'd ever expected. In the end, it's Tho'ny who comes up with a solution that will turn their lives around.





	Force (Be With Us)

**Author's Note:**

> In honor of today's date, a fill for:  
> Tony Stark Bingo square S3 - Galaxy  
> Bucky Barnes Bingo square C3 - Free Square  
> WinterIron Bingo square G1 - Crossover
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and 'May the Fourth be with you' ;)

**A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…**

Ever since they’d been younglings, this was where they met up when they wanted to be alone. Padawan Steev had been hidden there, mourning, since his Master’s funeral pyre had burnt out, though he knew he would be joined by his friends soon.

One by one, they trickled in. Na’tash was first, approaching him silently and kneeling beside him. She knew he wasn’t ready to talk about it - he might not ever be - and the few moments of silent comfort that she could give him would be welcomed. Some of their other friends were a lot less likely to keep quiet, after all.

Breuce was next, his imposing green body taking up much of the space, though he, too, remained silent in his support of Steev. As did Bucky (nicknamed by Steev years ago, when they were mere younglings getting to know one another, because Nebuchad’nezzar was far too long a name - by now, most of the Temple called him Bucky instead), though he did not sink into the meditative pose the other Padawans had taken. Instead, he remained on guard, warily watching the entrance to their sanctuary. The metal arm his Master had built him gleamed at his side.

By the time Tor and Klint got there, it felt a little less like Steev was about to fall apart any moment. It was a good thing, because with the two of them there, the silence was gone.

“It’s not fair,” Klint snarled, making Steev flinch a little. It wasn’t.

Before anyone else could respond, Tho’ny joined them as well, looking as unhappy as they all were. “It doesn’t make sense,” was the first thing he said, distrust heavy in his tone.

“I just… wasn’t in time to cover him,” Steev admitted, curling into himself again.

Ignoring Na’tash’s warning look, Tho’ny shook his head. “I watched the surveillance. Something wasn’t right, Steev. It looks like a set-up. I’m not sure who, yet, but… This shouldn’t have happened.”

That got all of them to look at him. “Are you sure?” Breuce asked, always the sceptic.

“Almost,” Tho’ny admitted. “Problem is, I’m… not sure how much more I can do to look into it. Not without a lot of time and access to the database that I can’t officially get.”

Steev clenched his jaw. He wanted to believe Tho’ny, he did, because that meant there was nothing he could’ve done to save Master Err-Skien. On the other hand, if it _had_ been a set-up, someone had killed his Master on purpose.

Everyone’s eyes followed his as he looked down at the datapad he was holding.

“What’s that?” It was Tor asking this time, though he wasn’t the only one wondering. There was a small star-mark on it, making it look distinctly different from the various other datapads in the Temple, but they hadn’t seen Steev with it before. All of them had long since gotten used to travelling light, though for different reasons.

It took him some effort to hold out the datapad so they could see it more clearly. “It’s… It used to be Master Err-Skien’s. It’s got some of the old Jedi tales on it, that he liked to reread sometimes. He told me… A long time ago, he told me that he wanted me to have this if he should die.”

On the surface, it didn’t make much sense. A Jedi’s worldly possessions, few as they usually were, were burned with them. For Master Err-Skien to practically tell his Padawan to keep something _away_ from his funeral pyre had to mean something significant.

“May I?” Tho’ny asked. While he was curious, he would respect Steev’s right to decide what happened to it.

He trusted his friend, though. Especially when it came to technology, Tho’ny was probably the best person on the entirety of Coruscant to hand things over to. No matter the trouble he’d been having since becoming a Padawan, they all knew he was absolutely brilliant.

As he sat there, tapping away at it, the rest of them focused on Steev again. He had no idea what to say, though. Grief, though not proper for a Jedi, was still coursing through him.

Had the others been regular Padawans, they might have reminded him to let his emotions flow into the Force, to breathe and meditate on his pain so he could let it go. But none of the others had been regular since they’d been chosen by their Masters, each of them bad in their own way. Of all of them, the only one to have a healthy relationship with his Master had been Steev.

And now he’d lost him.

Tho’ny was the one to break the silence in the end, softly exclaiming his victory. “There’s a hidden message on here, from your Master.” He frowned a little upon reading the first few lines. “Huh. I… Do you want to read it alone, or…?” It wasn’t easy for him to offer, especially with what he’d already read, but it was meant for Steev, first. Should he want to read it privately, he should be able to.

“I’m not sure I can,” Steev confessed. “It’s still… raw. And I trust you all. Could… could you read it out loud?”

At that, Tho’ny looked at Bucky, who nodded when he realized what the younger Padawan was asking. He slid the datapad over to the taller teen, who steeled himself for whatever he was about to read. Still, nothing could have prepared him.

“ _My dear Padawan, I’m sorry. If you’re reading this, it means I did not make it until your Knighting. I was afraid something like this might happen, which is why I prepared this message for you. To warn you, and hopefully to help you._

“ _I have long hesitated on how I would tell you this, how I would try to explain everything. How to apologize to your friends, as well, because I couldn’t help them. There was some interest in you, in all of you, for a long time. I had read the prophecy as well, as have most Knights and Masters. Much like any prophecy, most did not pay too much mind to them. I am sorry I realized too late that there was a group, a significant group, that **did**. And most of them became Masters to your friends._”

By now, all of them were listening in utter bemusement. This wasn’t what any of them had been expecting. Bucky, though just as astonished as the rest of them, continued reading.

“ _Of course, this explains exactly nothing, and you probably have more questions than ever right now. So let me try to be brief: you can look up the full prophecy on this datapad itself under ‘Prophecy of the Seven’, but a summary of it is that there would be a group of seven, and as long as they were united, whatever side they were on would be victorious. Unfortunately, some people identified your group of friends as these seven, and wished to take advantage of this to turn you to their side._

“ _After the pushback I got upon taking you as my Padawan, I started looking deeper, trying to see why some of the other Masters would tell me I could get a far better Padawan, stronger and more likely to succeed, and they would get someone to take you on instead. I could not see it - you might have been unhealthy, at first, but your heart was one of the strongest I had ever met. Slowly but surely, upon meeting your friends as well, I started realizing what was going on, and realizing the danger the both of us were in._

“ _I am aware that you have, occasionally, resented me for keeping you away from the Temple as much as I did. The Temple, as well as your friends. It was the only way I could protect the both of us, from their Masters and from anyone else involved. My greatest regret is that I could not help your friends as I helped you. I know they have suffered, and I am aware that, with me gone, you might suffer as well._

“ _So this is my warning, and my advice. Be cautious, especially around Master Pierce - he was the one the others kept insisting would take you instead of me, and I cannot trust him fully. Should it be possible, Master Kulsan has expressed his worries for some of your friends, especially after what happened with Master Hovv-Ard, and I think he can be trusted to take care of you. But always, **always** remember to remain true to yourself, and to remain true to the kind of person that I chose as a Padawan - your heart is your greatest strength. Do not let them take that from you._”

For several long, long moments, they remained silent. Then, Klint snarled. “So everything they did to us, all the ways they’ve hurt us, was over a _prophecy_!?”

“Sithspit,” Tor cursed as well, fists clenching at his sides as he struggled not to lose control completely. They could all feel the Force gathering around him, practically making the air crackle. “A kriffing _prophecy_!?”

All of them had suffered under their Masters in different ways, and they had all responded in different ways. Klint, as well as Tor and Bruece, had become increasingly unable to deal with their anger in any constructive way. Na’tash and Bucky had both become colder and warier than they had been before, though their friends could still get underneath the shields they had put up. Tho’ny had become more erratic than before, first with Master Hovv-Ard and then, when they finally thought he would be safe, with Obi-Daia as his new Master instead.

The mention of his name had Tho’ny curling into himself - while Master Obi-Daia was probably worse in a mental sense, he still carried the scars of what Master Hovv-Ard had done in the name of training him to let his pain go into the Force.

Bucky, as protective of the youngest of them as always, had actually sat down so Tho’ny could curl into him instead, strong arms wrapping around the smaller Padawan to make him feel a little safer. He was careful, as always, to control his metal arm as much as possible. Whatever Master Zola had done with it, it always hurt, and he could feel the way his rising emotions made it worse. Still, he’d hesitated about asking Tho’ny to look at it, worried that Master Zola would find out and punish him or, worse, Tho’ny.

In the meantime, Na’tash was trying to calm down an increasingly angry Bruece. The fact that both Klint and Tor were on the verge of rage themselves did not help, and with Bucky trying to soothe Tho’ny and Steve still too lost in mourning, she simply wasn’t enough to be able to help.

“I can’t _do_ this anymore!” Bruece shouted, getting up to pace. Though he had angry outbursts, green skin even greener in his rage, he always did his best to make sure not to take it out on any of his friends. “I can’t keep having Master Ros keep tearing me down, keep getting me to lose control and then punishing me for it, I can’t keep _watching_ as you’re all getting hurt as well! I can’t _do this_!”

His outburst got to Na’tash as well, and she pulled back from him, a frown pulling at her lips. “We’re never going to make it through the Trials. Not if they have anything to say about it.” Her voice was low, dark. “And now they’re going after Steev as well - he was the only one of us that stood a chance, and they’re taking it from him as well.”

Steev himself looked up at that, upset. “Of course you’re going to make it through the Trials,” he insisted. “You’d be amazing Knights!”

The chuckle that burst out of Bucky was bitter. “We’re not. There’s something wrong with all of us - we’re not the way Jedi are supposed to be. They’ve made sure of that. Bit by bit, they’ve broken us down. And I’m not gonna stand by and watch as they do it to you, too.”

“Then let’s not.” It was Tho’ny speaking, voice soft but intense. “Let’s not.”

As the youngest and smallest of them, he looked astonishingly vulnerable between all of them. Despite the look of him, though, all of the others were convinced that he was the strongest of them in his own way, and would all follow him in whatever he did.

That didn’t mean they didn’t have questions, though. “What do you mean?” Steev asked, sounding wary.

Of course, Tho’ny understood why. He realized how it sounded. “We’re all… They’ve hurt us. They’ve even hurt Steev, taking his Master away. Even if we stay, even if we struggle through everything else they’re going to put us through… Why? Do we really want to follow a code that allowed all of _this_ to happen, stay in a Temple that stood by and watched as we were…” _Tortured_ , he couldn’t quite bring himself to say, though they all knew it was true. “ _Can_ we do that?”

“So what, you’re saying… we should turn away from the Jedi? Turn to the dark?” Klint asked, sounding uncertain.

“I can’t,” Steev instantly told them all, slightly desperate. He would follow them anywhere, he _would_ , but… Turning to the dark, as much as he understood why they would, would go against everything Master Err-Skien had taught him, everything that was _right_.

Na’tash exhaled heavily. “How light, how _good_ is the Jedi Order itself, with everything it’s allowed to happen?” From her, it was practically an agreement. “We can’t stay here. What other way is there?”

“Our own,” Tho’ny spoke up, before Steev could argue. That got all of their attention. “We can’t stay here, we all know that.”

They did. If they stayed here, they would be broken down further and further until there was nothing left of them. And while each and every one of them was willing to suffer for the sake of their friends, would remain in their terrible apprenticeship if it meant being close to the others… Well, now that even Steev was likely to end up in a situation as bad as theirs, what reason did they have to stay? What reason to watch as the people they held dear were destroyed for the sake of a prophecy?

“But that doesn’t mean we have to do exactly what they want us to do. Doesn’t mean we have to fall to the dark side, have to become _evil_ just to get away from theirs. They made us suffer, made us hurt, but that doesn’t mean we have to do the same. I’m saying we escape, and we make our _own_ way. The Force doesn’t discriminate - if you’re Force-sensitive you can use it, but it’s up to _you_ how to use it. So what if we choose another way? Something between light and dark, between what the Jedi call ‘good’ and ‘evil’?”

None of them quite knew what to say for some moments - it was a completely foreign idea, and yet… It felt _right_ in a way the Jedi Order hadn’t for years.

“I’m in,” Bucky was the first to speak up, earning himself a breathtaking smile from Tho’ny. The more he thought about it, the more he agreed with the idea. “Getting out of here, choosing our own way… It feels right.”

“It does,” Steev had to agree. Knowing what he did now, aware of the machinations going on inside of the Temple in a way he hadn’t been before, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stay. At least before, he’d been able to be of _some_ help to his hurt friends on the few occasions he’d been in the Temple, but Master Err-Skien’s death meant it was possible there would be nothing he could do for his friends. “As long as… We have to be better. I can’t… I can’t hurt people, can’t go out there and be selfish. We have to be _good_.”

“We will be,” Na’tash told him, certain. “We will leave, and we will try our best, and you will make sure we don’t cross the line.”

Slowly, life started returning to all of their eyes. “We can do this,” Breuce said, a tentative hope in his voice. He was fully calm again now, mind rushing through possibilities and ideas and plans quickly.

“Where should we go, though? And how?” Klint questioned. While he was as eager as the rest of them, he was also very well-aware of the fact that, if this didn’t work, everything would be so much worse than before due to the fact that they’d had a moment of _hope_.

Apparently, though, Tho’ny had already thought several steps ahead. “Everyone has everything they really need to bring, right?” They all nodded - except Steve, all of them had the experience of their Master destroying or selling whatever possessions they showed even the slightest amount of care for whenever they left them in their quarters. “We can’t stay on Coruscant - if they’ve done all of this, they _will_ try to get to us again. But if we find a planet, especially one with a good scrapheap, I can build everything we need and more. All we need to do is find a starship - Na’tash, you can hack it so we can leave, right? That way I can disable any trackers inside.”

“I can,” she confirmed. After Tho’ny, she was the best with tech. It also helped that no one would be expecting a Jedi to steal a ship, which should make it easier as well.

Resolve settled between the seven of them, and even Bucky and Na’tash were smiling slightly.

“Let’s go, then, before our Masters come looking for us,” Bucky asserted, making all of them nod.

Sneaking around was easier than expected - Klint, Na’tash and Bucky were the stealthiest of them, and were easily able to tell which paths to take through the Temple to keep from being detected. Tho’ny, in the meantime, busied himself with the security, making sure they wouldn’t be tracked and no one would detect them in the hangar bays.

With everything they had suffered through, it was almost suspiciously easy to make their way out of the Temple and off Coruscant.

None of them believed this would be the end of it all. Their Masters were unlikely to just let them go, and who knew what they would tell the other Jedi. But for all of them, it was a new start, and a chance for something better than they had known since being chosen as Padawans.

And all the time, the Force hummed happily around them, guiding them far away from the Temple.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you've enjoyed this! I will freely admit, I have a _lot_ of ideas for this universe, but I'm not sure where I would like to take a (possible) sequel. If you have any ideas (or if you have any questions, still), I'm happy to listen either in the comments or on my [Tumblr](https://eirlyssa.tumblr.com/). Thank you for reading and have a lovely day!


End file.
